Jason Carter's solo road runs through 15 On at 8 markets this winter

After 33 years as the Del McCoury Band's fiddler, Carter is working listening rooms from Cambridge to Boulder, and the best seats are in the smallest rooms.

For more than three decades, Jason Carter played some of the most admired fiddle in bluegrass with Del McCoury. Since early 2025 he has been out on his own. Over the next 90 days his name is on 16 dates across 15 On at 8 markets, and many of the rooms hold fewer people than a festival merch line.

The run opens Wednesday, Nov. 11, at Club Passim in Cambridge, Mass., a 100-capacity folk room, at 8 p.m. The next three nights are Peoples Pub in Bayport, N.Y. (Thursday, Nov. 12, 8:30 p.m.), TEMPO Performing Arts Center in Kingston, N.Y. (Friday, Nov. 13, 8 p.m.) and a late-morning set at Arts Alliance in Waynesboro, Pa., which starts at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14.

The following weekend he plays The Barns at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Va. on Saturday, Nov. 21, at 8 p.m. (382 capacity), then Sellersville Theater in Sellersville, Pa., on Sunday, Nov. 22, at 8 p.m. On the night before Thanksgiving, Wednesday, Nov. 25, he's at the 75-capacity Blue Jay Listening Room in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., at 8 p.m., the smallest room on the list (tickets). His December stop is eTown Hall in Boulder on Thursday, Dec. 17, at 7 p.m.

January heads into the Southern mountains. He plays The Mockingbird Theater in Franklin, Tenn. (Friday, Jan. 8, 7 p.m.), 185 King Street in Brevard, N.C. (Saturday, Jan. 9, 8 p.m.) and Mountain Stage in Charleston, W.Va. (Sunday, Jan. 10, 7 p.m.). After that come Wild Yarrow Brewing in Greenville, S.C. (Thursday, Jan. 14, 7 p.m.), The Front Porch in Charlottesville, Va. (Friday, Jan. 15, 7:30 p.m.) and a 3 p.m. Sunday matinee at Lucketts Community Center near Leesburg, Va., on Jan. 17.

Why this tour matters: Carter was born in Ashland, Kentucky, and joined the Del McCoury Band young, after a chance meeting with McCoury led to an audition tour and then a permanent job, according to his Wikipedia biography). That job lasted 33 years. It also included the Travelin' McCourys. In February 2025 Relix and Bluegrass Today reported that he was leaving both bands to lead the Jason Carter Band. He has said he is still on good terms with McCoury.

He arrived with recent records to play from. His 2022 solo album *Lowdown Hoedown* was, as Bluegrass Today noted, his first in 25 years, following his 1997 Rounder debut *On the Move*. In March 2025 he and Michael Cleveland released *Carter & Cleveland* on Fiddle Man Records. It's a twin-fiddle record with guests including Sam Bush, Del and Ronnie McCoury, and Darrell Scott, per the Grand Ole Opry. The Bluegrass Situation called it "a fantastic twin fiddle workshop."

Many of the rooms on this run hold fewer people than a festival merch line.

Which rooms to watch: Passim and the Blue Jay are tiny, and seats at either will go fast. eTown Hall in Boulder is the home of the eTown radio show. Mountain Stage tapes him for public radio in front of a live audience. And Waynesboro's 11 a.m. start is the most unusual slot on the tour. You can catch him and still have the rest of Saturday free.

Getting to watch a fiddler who spent 33 years in one of bluegrass's best-known bands work a 75-seat room is rare. On this tour, it happens in a lot of towns.

Sources: Jason Carter (fiddler) — Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); Jason Carter to Focus on Solo Career After 33-Year Tenure with The Del McCoury Band — Relix (relix.com); Jason Carter leaves Del McCoury and Travelin’ McCourys to focus on solo career — Bluegrass Today (bluegrasstoday.com); Jason Carter talks Lowdown Hoedown — Bluegrass Today (bluegrasstoday.com); Carter & Cleveland review — Bluegrass Today (bluegrasstoday.com); Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland — Grand Ole Opry (opry.com); Jason Carter & Michael Cleveland’s New Album is a Fantastic Twin Fiddle Workshop — The Bluegrass Situation (thebluegrasssituation.com); This Is Big: Jason Carter Leaves the Del McCoury Band — Saving Country Music (savingcountrymusic.com); Jason Carter, Blue Jay Listening Room, Nov 25, 2026 — Opendate (app.opendate.io); Mountain Stage (mountainstage.org)